The day started with the participants’ registration and giving out of seminar kits including a huge folder which is where the photocopied slides will be placed. There were a total of 65 participants, mostly composed of personnel from various LGUs and also a few from NGOs and private companies. It was a formal opening program with the Philippine anthem and a welcome speech.

The course proper was then formally opened with an introduction of the key speaker on Public sector planning, Prof. Ernesto M. Serote. He is considered as the father of Philippine planning as he developed the foundations of Land Use Planning in the Philippines. He is also the author of the book Property, Patrimony and Territory: Foundations of Land Use Planning in the Philippines published by UP SURP/PLANADES in 2004.

The first topic was Public Sector-led Planning and the discussion started with the period before Martial Law was declared and where the Oligarchs originated. It was those times that the Private Sector was on a paramount status. I am glad to learn on how that term has defined the private sector at that time.

As the Martial Law period began, the state got hold and control of the major corporations and at that time they were in paramount. However, most of the old oligarchs along with technocrats and bureaucrats established a new oligarchy which was called cronies. It then developed into crony capitalism, wherein the state and the business sectors became close allies.

As the EDSA revolution put an end to Martial Law, the state started to establish an equal opportunity between it and the people: the whole civil society per se. it was at the time the slow rise of the “third pillar”. The term “civil society” in the 1990s came in vogue, and was composed of NGOs, PVOs, POs, CBOs, etc.  To recap, the three pillars are State, Business, Civil Society.

The afternoon lectures were mostly composed on the discussions, IRR of the Republic Act No. 10587 or the Environmental Planning Act of 2013. This was discussed by Atty. Mark Anthony Gamboa. He also discussed on the various roles & legal mandates of the Environmental Planner.